PERSONAL REFLECTION

The two activities I need to engage will be creation and contemplative. I need to connect with God in nature, and I need to connect with God by doing great things. For nature, I guess I should visit more beautiful places such as the Grand Canyon. For doing great things, I should be more active in church or church events. I should go help out for the poor, and donate more. I guess the more activities I do for God, I would be able to get closer with him. As far as right now, I didn't feel that God was beside me or anything, so I believe I should try to be more active and visit more places.

Reflection #7

In the beginning of class, we looked at the "most interesting career" sheet as a group. I got 4 out of 10 right, and some of these jobs really surprised me. Then Mrs. Gunther showed us her favorite website about jobs. Overall, I really found this unit interesting. At first I thought it was boring and pointless, but as time passed, I thought this time was a great time for me to really think about my future. Soon I will graduate high school and go to college, and this unit gave me an opportunity to start thinking of what to do after high school.

Reflection #6

Today, Mrs Gunther came in and had a little speech ready for us. It was about our way of learning. I felt that I learned better sometimes by interacting with others, and sometimes by myself, depending on what type of lesson it was on. I guess I just like interacting with people, but when there are major assignments needed to be finished, I like to be alone and be serious.

Reflection #5

Today we went to a website called Naviance, and we took a personality and my learning style survey. I found these enjoyable and annoying at the same time. Enjoyable because just like I have mentioned before, I enjoy doing surveys that would predict my personality or my future. However, I found it annoying because there were sooooo many questions we had to answer. Also for the learning style survey, I was very annoyed because there were some questions where it was the opposite of what I just answered, and few that were identically the same.

Reflection #4

Today wasn't a very interesting day. Ms. Gunther weren't in the class with us, and those who didn't finish the booklet (which was the majority of people) had to finish it. I did finish it, and my results came out as to be a physician. Now this is the basic job I was aiming for, and I was kind of glad that I did get the job I wanted. Then we had some free time to work on our pink booklet or this funny survey. For the most of the time, I felt that this class wasn't a very interesting or active class, but I managed to get alot of my jobs done.

Daily Reflection #3

Today, we stopped looking at other's future example, and focused more on our future. We cut and paste out our values and pasted them in the order in which we thought valued more. I did this activity without thinking much, and didn't feel that this was an important task for me. Then we were given 2 booklets, one containing a survey questions that will tell which job fits us best, and the second book to search the result. We only had a few minutes left of class left, so we barely got to start on. I enjoy activities that predict my future, and I'm interested what the results will come out to be.

Daily Reflection #2

On today's lesson, Mrs Gunther talked about talent. We got the privilege to look at some of the problems our society faces on finding their talent. I believe that I have a problem too. I think of myself as someone who has no talent in any specific thing, but just OK at it. I sometimes have a inner conflict with myself about it. I feel I would rather be best at one thing, then just be ok at everything. As I was taught that we were thinking to modest or worried, I got the courage. I hope to find a talent someday.

Daily Reflection #1

Our first lesson was on choices. Mrs. Gunther talked about the everyday choices we made in our lives. At first I didn't notice these small things were choices we made because it was our daily habit. However as I got to think of my options more on the even simplest thing, it proved that we did make choices everyday of our lives. Also we were struck with the question of which future to choose: money, fame, or God. Honestly at this stage of my life, I feel that money would be the most important, as any other teenager might agree. However, I believe I would change as time passes and hope that God becomes my future.

Blog Assignment #10

This image, “American Gothic” shows a very strong voice for sadness in the picture. If you just look at the picture as a whole, it is just a picture of a married couple having a normal life and farm for living. However, if you analyze the specific details of it you could easily tell that it has a sad voice. First, the very obvious detail, is the couple’s facial expression. We can’t really tell if the grandpa is sad, just that he is not happy. The main detail we have to look at it is the grandma’s glare at him. She is obviously not happy, her facial expression and the way she looks at her husband tells us that she is not satisfied. Also, the background is another major portion of the voice. Even though it looks perfectly fine, the small dark smudges gives us a dark feeling, which is why we feel sadness in the voice of this painting.
This painting basically shows love. It is very obvious in the picture, because of many details. First the girl’s facial expression when she is getting kissed shows joy and peace. Also the background is decorated with flowers and bright colors. Also you could see that they are wrapped around a bright cloth. This shows joy in both of them and how they are not separate to one and another shows unity.

This painting is one of the most famous painting existing today. It is the “The Scream” by Edvard Munch. As you can tell from the background, the painting has a sort of a scary voice, and a confusing voice. Starting from the face and body line of the human, all the way to the background, it is all curvy. This gives us a sense that it is not really normal. Also the facial expression of the man shows that he is shocked, which gives a sense of fear in the voice.


This is another famous painting, “Weeping Woman” by Pablo Picasso. This also shows sadness voice in the image. Since the title of this painting is weeping woman, and the action she is showing we already know that she is sad. Her eyes and hand motion is a big clue as to why this painting shows sadness. Moving on to more specific details, we could see that her face is broken. This also symbolizes that her heart is broken showing the main sadness of the picture.
This is an painting portraying an tragic event. It is titled “The Slave Ship”, and it shows tragedy and sadness. If you look closely, there are many slaves on the sea dying. This was because the boat couldn’t hold them all due to the typhoon. The slaves get overthrown, and meat a tragic death. You could see the boat in the background, leaving, and gives the feeling that it is sorry for the slaves. Also, if you look more closely, you could see some slaves trying desperately to survive, which gives more sense of sadness.

Blog Assignment #9

Write a 1-2 paragraphs analyzing the author's perspective about voice. Do you agree or disagree? Why or why not?

In the article he shows what kind of tastes there are compares them to different tastes. For example, in pg 2, he gives a piece by E.B. White, and tells how descriptive the piece is. Then later he writes a similar piece with a different taste, which has a kind of brezzy taste. He compares the two and tells how horrible the second one sounds, having no sense of grammar and how the writer attempted to write in slang but only made it more horrible. The author refers to these as cliches.
After showing couple of examples such as the ones mentioned above, he tells how hard it is to get the right taste of sound. Also he mentiones not to be afraid of trying to immitate a author's taste, because eventually you will blend in and make your own kind of taste. Later on when you get used to it, then you should develop your own taste of voice, so that when a reader reads your piece, they could tell it is your style of writing. This means through out the process, you should come up with your own style that will be reconizable in every literature you write.
I think I agree with this statement. All of us, even if we don't really know it, have our own unique voice. That is why I'm sure teachers and professionals can tell when we are plagarizing. I think by having a unqiue voice that no one else has, it will make the literature more interesting to read. Also I believe that trying to use a type of voice that doesn't fit you will just make the story more terrible.

Blog Assignment #8

1. What is voice? What makes a voice unique? How would you describe your writing voice?
A voice is the word that describes the sound that comes out of our mouth. Whenever we say something, we are using our voice to communicate with others. There are few things that varies the uniqueness of a voice. The tone of it, how loud is it, if you have any accent, etc. For example, my voice is very loud and deep. Even though some people might also have this characteristics, this is what makes my voice unique compared to the majority of people. In writing, we describe voice not by sound, but it varies depending on weather it ends with a period, question mark, or an exclamation mark. For example, if it is written "I am your King!", then we know that the person who's saying this quote will have a loud voice, as to when a question mark is added, it might change the voice into a softer tone.

2. Pretend you are an object in the classroom such desk, pencil, chair, the teacher's shoe, anything! Imagine yourself having a bad day as this object. Write a 500 word narrative describing your bad day from the object's perspective.

Object: Led Pencil

"Oh my gosh, this is already the FIFTH time!!!! The fifth time he broke a precious bone of mine. I mean doesn't he get it that if you put too much strength in my precious led it will break?! I mean, my bones aren't made of steels. *CRACK* THERE HE GOES AGAIN! That's it! I need to teach this boy a lesson on how to control his strength. Boy, you don't need to show off that you have strong arms, cause that wont matter if you spend all your money on led! *Sigh*, what am I thinking, this boy won't buy a new led. He'll just buy a new led-pencil to replace because to him, its all~~~ my fault. To him I'm the weird led-pencil that won't function very well. I've seen many people do that, but not this time! uhuh~ I am not going to sit around and let this boy break pieces of me for a whole day and just trash me in the bin. Boy you asked for it, now your getting it!! HAHA I see that weird look in your eyes thinking why isn't this dumb led-pencil working? Well it's your fault for messing with the wrong pencil, now I wont move a muscle to help you write. Oh I see what your thinking, its because there's no more led left. Well DUH cause you broke them all, but try all you want and I won't even twitch. Oh look, the time is almost up and yet you haven't even solved half of your geometry test. What are you going to do now? Yea that's right, feel that pain, feel the anger, that's what you get for blaming everything on me. Oh look, he's taking out another led pencil. Tsk Tsk, I feel sad for that pencil. Now he's going to blame everything on that pencil. Well I'll just relax and watch this idiot try to finish his test on time. Oh haha there goes the bell. Awwww he's sad he couldn't finish it. Well you should've shown me some respect then maybe I would've helped you. Now look at you all sad and... Hey! Why aren't you putting me back in the pencil case? Oh no now your going to lose me again... huh? not even the pocket? Whats wrong with him... Oh no! A trash can!!!! NO NO, BOY I'm SORRY!!!! Please not the Trash can! I'm so sorry!! No~~ No~~~noooo!!!!! *DUMP* "

Blogging Assignment #7 Dramatic Moment essay Reflection

1.What are some of the aspects of narrative writing and did you like using them?
Some aspects of narrative writing I enjoyed was that I didn't have to make the story up as I went. When I try to write a fairy tale or some kind of "fiction", it always annoys me because I can't think of what to write next. However, when I wrote a narrative writing, I knew exactly what I was going to write and how I was going to express it. I also liked using narrative writing because I could tell facts and events that were hard to describe to a person without writing it dow.
2.How did you determine what details were relevant and necessary to support your ideas?
When this story of mine happened, there were too many things to write about and limited space. That is why I tried to cut the parts that weren't necessary and add the parts that were relevant. I did this by relating the part to the mood of the story. If the story was going on as a sad mood such as mine, I would pick out the ones that were sad or tragic. For example, I wouldn't want to add a funny action while a funeral was going on, because then it would just break the mood and the tention the story gives.
3.How did you create a unique piece of writing?
I created a unique peace of writing because even though many have experienced their relatives die, most of them did not feel guilty for it. Mine was especially unique because before the funeral I was always imaptient and rude to my grandma, giving no respect what so ever, and when the time finally came and she was gone, I felt guilty about it.
4.How did you craft your writing to meet the audience expectations? What is easy or hard?
I crafted my essay to meet the audience expectations by grabbing the audience with the sadness that was going on in my story. In order for writers or even producers to grab the audiences' attention, it needs a certain BANG in their story. It has to have an impact that would make the reader want to read more, and that is what I tried to do with my story.
5.How did your personal experience and faith shape the way you told this story?
My personal experience and faith shaped the way I told the sory because I could really give the feeling in it. Since it was a story I actually experienced, I wanted the readers to feel the same way I did during that situatin, and personal experience really allowed me to express my thoughts and feeling without really havingto try.
6.What would your life be like without the experience?
I would say if this occasion never occured, I would still be the stupid little boy I was. I wouldn't have felt differently about my attitudes against elders, and especially grandmas and grandpas. By having the experience, I came to realize what my mistakes were and what I had to fix. That is why I feel that after this experience, I've grown up a little bit more and became more mature on how to treat an elder.

Blogging Assignment #6

1. Analyze article
David Bordwell's website on cinema
The author of this article tells us two different types of method on how scenes hook the audience. One, the most common, is that they create a question on the first scene that makes us wonder, then on the next scene they answer it. They use this to keep the tention going which will make the viewers not bored for the entire movie. Second is they surprise us by fading the scene when it ends, then automatically transitioning to the next scene using a loud sound or action.

Hooks, Lines & Sinkers
This article is saying that a article or a story with a good hook won't necessary mean that the story will be a good one, but it is saying that the reader will give more"attention" to it. Also it is saying as much as creating a hook is important, it is also important to recognize a good hook.

How to hook your audience and keep them reading
This article was a very simple article on how to create a interesting hook. Some of its suggestion were to start with a question or challenge the reader. Then after, they tell us to support your hook with a good thesis statement, following with many other stories and solutions that the reader could connect with. Finally, make sure that the story is well written and organized.

2. The Tell-Tale Heart
I feel that the hook of "The Tell-Tale Hear" was well made. The protagonists' tone of voice made me feel like there was an outrage going on. This made me want to know what happened and why this character was acting in this particular way. Also, I think the author was very clever when he started the story with an exclamation. It gave me an impact that something exciting was going on.

3. Three example of a good hook
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngrSvtf0rAI
This is a movie trailer of "Watchmen", and I felt that the hook of this movie was very interesting. Normally when we think of super heros, we think of the "good" guys saving the day. However, this movie hooks us in a unique waybecause in this movie, its the darker side of our everyday heroes. I was especially excited at the last part when the narrarator said, "The world will look up and shout 'Save Us', and I'll whisper 'No'". This made me think of what would happen if our daily life heroes suddenly stopped saving us, and the search for the answer made me want to watch the actuall movie. That is why I thought this trailer had a good hook.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvzj8wyZ9PI
This show, "What would you do" had an interestng hook. In the start of the video, it challenges the viewers on what kind of choice will they make when it comes to a certain scenario. Now most of us probably say, Oh~ I'm a nice person and I would never do something to hurt my community. However, I know that when it actually happens to us, we tend to think of more "options" to choose from. That is why I thought this hook was very clever, challenging us on our daily life habits.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/world/asia/30japan.html?hp
This article was very interesting to me because of the Korea-Japan history. Ever since the Japan War, there was a tention between both sides. Even though we we're at peace, we fought about like things like the dokdo island vs. dakeshima. Since it is clear that we are still having conflict with Japan, this article's title had a very interesting hook. It was saying that Japan was looking for a change, but I thought that this was only the Korean perspective, considering the publishing company is Korea, and thought it was a very selfish title. Now, I am a Koren and I have no love for Japan, but this article was bsically saying that Japan was the one who needed to change while we were perfectly fine. Now ofcourse, this is not true and I feel both countries need to comprimise. However, seeing how the hook is saying that Japan is trying to change, it has once again reminded me of the Korea-Japan conflict.

Swine Flu Vacation

When I first heard about the news, I was ambivalent that we would be able to relax and enjoy the break. I knew from the start that teachers and parents wouldn't let us just play around all day, so I wasn't very excited about it. Next day I was expecting some kind of homework to be posted on edline, but all I saw written in edline was: "no assignment found". I started to serene myself and thought, maybe the teachers are actually giving us a break. So I decided to go to Seoul with my sister to visit my aunt. The first day of my trip to Seoul, I visited my friend ever since elementrary school. He took me to his dad's hotel, which was embellished with real gold. I was amazed at how beautiful the hotel looked, but at the same time I felt uncomfortable because I had to stay very taciturn inside the hotel. However, for the most part, it was a plesant trip, eating the most delicious buffet, staying at the most ostentatious room, and the best part: it was free.
Later that day I had a disdain feeling when I was checking edline, and there it was. My worst nightmare. As I continued on to the next subject I kept on lamenting more and more. We we're getting piles of homework that even I didn't expect would be this much. I started procrastinating for an hour or two, then thought in the teacher's perspective. I realized that they we're just trying to keep up with the missing school days, and I started to revere their decision. As I kept working on it thinking positively, even drawing angular shapes for geometry class was enjoyable. After I finished all my homework, I tried not to get arrogant and show off to my friends. Overall, I felt that this "break" was a good experience for me, and also made me realize how fast I could finish my homework if I just concentrated.

Assignment 4 [Swine Flu Article]

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/05/113_44105.html

Singular
individuals, he, she
Plural
authorities, they, cases, people, governments
Common
authorities, virus, man, woman, society
Proper
Yonhap News Agency, KCDC, Mexico, United States, Canada, Spain, New Zealand
Collective
they, governments, Mexico, United States, Canada, Spain, New Zealand

Articles With "Good" Ideas

1) http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2009/08/137_50120.html
Sexism In Korea - Again
The article mainly talks about Korean(Asian) men's sexism against women. This article refers to past Korea's history where women we're treated poorly. However, that was not the main idea of this article. The main idea contains the racism against Korean sexism. According to the article, it states that there is a racism going on that Korean and Asian men are more sexist to women then white men are.Even though I am a man, I too thought this wasn't very true because I already know a lot of American's who are sexist and also because this is just another stereotype against Koreans. That is why I think this article contains good ideas, especially the conclusion: "all men need to be less sexist."
2. http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/special/2009/06/181_46227.html
Two Sides of Int'l School
This article I have come to favor because it talks about TCIS. It talks about the pros and cons of TCIS, and as a student of TCIS I feel the same. This article was written by Brian Lee, a student of TCIS just one grade higher than me. As a same school student, I felt so proud when I first encountered this article. For a sophomore to already have an article published in a huge news company, I can only give respect. Also I thought it was very brave of him to do write it because this article expresses the feelings that we couldn't say it out loud.

Pakistan Burn Victims Turn Beauticians Summary

The article Pakistan Burn Victims Turn Beauticians Summary was basically about the victims who's faces and bodies were burned becoming a Beauticians. Beautician can be a hair salon, nail polisher, or any other jobs that style other people's bodies. In the beginning the article talks about two girls on their 20s, Liaqat and Akbar, who has lost a face after being the victims of attempted murder. This was a tragic thing not because of the physical pain, but also because they used to care a lot about their beauty. They later come in contact with Masarrat Misbah, the head of a well known salon in Pakistan, and she decided to help the two girls become a beautician. This spread on and later people in similar situation as Liaqat and Akbar came to Masarrat Misbah for help. It has a bit of ironic in it because technically victims with no faces and body can't style themselves . However, as I read on I found out that irony was the whole point. This whole article was not just about burned victims becoming beauticians, but the fact to prove that there will be always a second chance if you try hard to earn it.

Tracks Of Life

Tracks Of Life


1.New Years Day - U2
This song represents the day I
was born. New Years Day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHzLWLFTPPI
--------------------------------------------------------------
2.Say Good Bye Hollywood - Eminem
Hollywood represents Los Angeles, my home town,
which I had to say goodbye to when I left Korea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQNttIdf8hg
--------------------------------------------------------------
3.The Reason - Hoobastank
The first song that I liked
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q30-2QpZVc
--------------------------------------------------------------
4.Good Riddance - Greenday
The song I sang during my first graduation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFgok5SceLw
--------------------------------------------------------------
5.Sugar We're going down - Fall Out Boys
The highlight song of the first concert I've went to.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0T-gxtVUzM&feature=fvst
--------------------------------------------------------------
6. Pretty Woman
First song I played playing my base guitar.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBrbpWwWafQ
--------------------------------------------------------------
7. Adios - Eun Ji-Won (은지원)
My first favorite Korean song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNMeCziE3P0
--------------------------------------------------------------
8. Used to be - Ilya
My current favorite Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mVihR6x_OQ

Blogging Assignment #1

*What characteristic describe "good writing"?
When someone write a essay, poem, story, etc... its separated to two different type. It is either a good writing or a bad writing. In order for people to write "good writing" there are many things to look at. The main thing readers look for in writing is the storyline. If the story line is boring, it is most likely that it won't be enjoyable to read. That is why the story line must be interesting, enjoyable, and full of actions. Next the writing has to have a interesting hook. The hook is the very first statement that should grab the reader's attention. No matter how good the story line might be, the readers will just close the book after reading only few sentences if the hook is horrible. Lastly, it should have proper grammar. Can you understanded what me are sayed? Yes exactly, without proper grammar, readers wont understand a thing you are saying.
*What is the process of writing?
Not even the best writers can't write a good literature with only one try. In writing, there is a law called the process of writing. This is a way to polish your writing before actually publishing it. When you write the first time their will be mistakes that could be minor or big. That's when process of writing comes in. The steps are separated into four parts: planning - first draft - editing - final draft. Planning stage, we mostly use a bubble map to plan the details we are going to have on the draft. Next we start our first draft. This is the part where we get the basic storyline done. After that we edit our drafts, which is correcting grammars, spelling, etc. Finally, when we are all done with that process, we re write the draft and label it as "final draft". This sounds like its just a bunch of waste of time, but if you actually do it you will have a better mark.